HAMILTON — When Mercy Hamilton closed its emergency room one year ago as a precursor to closing the hospital, the city was stunned and concerned over the future of local medical care.

        For decades, Hamilton had the luxury of two hospitals — Fort Hamilton, on the west side, and Mercy, near downtown. Suddenly, at a time when access to health care is a major issue and Butler County's growth boom shows no sign of slowing, that luxury was gone.

        But since the closing, those fears have subsided. Major expansions have started or been planned at other Butler County hospitals — Fort Hamilton, Mercy Fairfield and McCullough-Hyde Memorial in Oxford.

        With them have come new health programs, diagnostic equipment, and medical procedures including open-heart surgery.

        At busy Mercy Fairfield, a $7 million to $10 million expansion is fueled by suburban growth as well as Mercy Hamilton's closing.

        “We saw almost 41,000 patients in our emergency room in 2001 — a 50 percent increase since 1997,” said Thomas Urban, president of Mercy Hospital Fairfield. “It's getting so busy that we need more space.”

        On March 6, Mercy finished its 50th open-heart surgery since mid-December, when the cardiology service began.

        During the next couple of years, the hospital will expand its emergency room, post-procedural unit, outpatient diagnostics unit and add a second cardiac catheterization lab.

        “Our imaging services will be located conveniently in the front of the hospital, to make it more customer-friendly,” Mr. Urban said.

        Fort Hamilton will be busy too.

        “We've had a 50 percent increase in volume since Mercy closed,” said James Kingsbury, senior vice president. “We've had a challenge keeping up. Our expansion will take one to two years. Even before Mercy closed, our emergency room volume was growing by 5 to 6 percent a year.”

        Growth lies all around the hospitals. In Fairfield Township, the population has increased from 9,000 to 16,000 people in 10 years, and about 400 houses are built there every two years. With 43,000 people, the city of Fairfield continues to grow.

        Although Hamilton's population isn't booming, it remains steady at about 62,000, while the city's western business strip exceeds expectations.

        “This area (Hamilton) is growing too,” Mr. Kingsbury said.

        Fort Hamilton has hired about 130 employees recently; 65 were formerly employed by Mercy Hamilton.

        Construction started in February on a 14-bed unit with state-of-the-art care for terminally ill patients.

        The unit, which is expected to open in late April, will be the only hospital-based hospice in Butler County. It will provide a home-like setting with medical, emotional and spiritual care. It will add 20 employees of VITAS Healthcare Corp., the nation's leading hospice provider.

        More renovations will be made to add a quiet room, team room for caregivers, updated nursing station, family room and improvements to existing patient rooms and bathrooms.

        The $375,000 project is being paid for through an anonymous donation.

        Since last summer, Fort Hamilton has also added:

        • A newrehabilitation unit, which re-established the service since Mercy closed last spring.

        • An expanded vascular laboratory (with two new rooms) to accommodate a 90 percent increase in patients; an expanded echo-cardiography lab, to accommodate a 60 percent increase; and an expanded cardiac monitoring system, which increases the number of monitored beds from 43 to 67.

        • A new bladder scanner, allowing in-room testing.

        • A 20-bed medical-surgical unit, which was filled the day it opened on Jan. 7.

        • Seventy-one more nurses, among 234 new employees.

        • An emergency room that is doubled in size, including nine examination rooms, three ambulance bays, a decontamination room, a special area for psychiatric emergencies and an expanded nurses station.

        “The emergency room will be expanded by September,” Mr. Kingsbury said. “This will be the year when we'll get comfortable with meeting the volume and the challenges.”

        Although planned before Mercy Hamilton closed, McCullough-Hyde's two-year expansion comes at a fortuitous time. The hospital had an increase in emergency room activity almost immediately after Mercy's emergency room closed last spring. McCullough-Hyde will receive a 76,000-square-foot addition.

        The $18.5 million expansion, whichstarted last September, will renovate and consolidate outpatient services to improve access and privacy. It will also expand the laboratory specimen collection area and support space, increase parking space and expand respiratory care.

        “When it's finished in 2003, we'll have 32 private rooms on the second level, a fixed-site MRI and space for more nuclear medicine,” said Jay Bigler, a hospital spokesman. “The project will change the whole front entrance. The work is all prompted by growth in our outpatient volume ... and a desire for private rooms.”

        Even bigger changes are coming for Middletown Regional Hospital, which plans to move closer to Interstate 75 to serve the growing population between Dayton and Cincinnati. The $125 million project is planned for Warren County, Ohio's second-fastest-growing county.

        It has had a 39 percent population increase since 1990 — to 158,000 people. Meanwhile, Butler County's has grown by 14 percent — to about 360,000.

        The growth can be seen in the many subdivisions around Mercy Fairfield.

        Mr. Urban added that many of the people who are moving into the suburbs are aged 45-65, and they'll need care now and in the future.

        “The (population) numbers are overwhelming, which confirms what we already knew — the need is out there in Butler County,” he said.

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